Gravity separator



March 15, 1960 A. R. FORSBERG 2,928,545

GRAVITY SEPARATOR Filed July 16. 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 W M W 7/ Q QR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I lllll ll A. R. FOR SBERG GRAVITY SEPARATOR March 15, 1960 Filed July 16, 1956 IN VEN TOR. 4?;7/02 /P. P0255526 United States Patent GRAVITY SEPARATOR Arthur R. Forsberg, Thief River Falls, Minn.

Application July 16, 1956, Serial No. 598,183

6 Claims. Cl. 209-467) This invention relates to high speed gravity separators and more particularly relates to vacuum-type separators for removing chaff and other light particles, and heavy particles such as stones and the like from grain and other types of kernals and the like.

An object of the invention is to provide in a gravity separator for seeds and the like, new and improved apparatus for quickly and thoroughly removing all high density particles such as stones and the like from the other material in the separator.

Another object of my invention is the provision in a gravity separator for granular material such as seeds and the like, of improved apparatus for controlling the flow of air upwardly through the shoe or shaker bed.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a gravity separator which controls upward movement of air through the stone discharging end of the oscillating thereon.

A further object of my invention is to provide in a vacuum-type gravity separator new and improved apparatus for controlling upward movement of air-through a stream of material falling onto the oscillating seed supporting member and thereby cause a substantial immediate separation of materials before the same fall into engagement with the supporting member.

These and other-objects and advantages of my invention will more fully appear from the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to the same or similar parts throughout the several views and in which:

v Fig. 1 is a vertical section view of the gravity separator comprising the present invention and is taken substantially on the longitudinal center line thereof;

1 Fig. 2 is a detail transverse section view of the invention taken on a horizontal plane substatnially at 2-2 as indicated in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section view taken on a vertical plane as indicated substantially at 33 in Fig. 1; and r Fig. 4 is another transverse vertical section view taken substantially on a plane as indicated at 4-4 in Fig. 1. One form of-the present invention is shown in the drawings and is described herein. The vacuum type gravity separator comprising the present invention and indicated in general by numeral includes supporting structure indicated in general by numeral 11.

The gravity separator is provided with a generally seed-carrying bed by maintaining a layer of stones horizontal but inclined and perforate material-carrying ina generally longitudinal direction.- In the form shown ice such means include a pair of generally upright but inclined supporting and driving links 17 which depend from and are swingably connected with the forward end portion of the deck 12 by means of a shaft 18 which is secured to the deck frame 14. Links 17 are affixedly secured to an oscillatable driving shaft 19 which is journalled in bearings 20, which bearings are supported by the machine support structure 11. The oscillatory driving means for the deck 12 include a source of rotary power 21 such as an electric motor which is connected by means of a belt 22 and pulley 23 to a Pitman oscillator 24 which has a substantially vertically reciprocable driving rod 25 swingably and adjustably connected to a driving arm 26 which is keyed or otherwise aflixedly secured 'to the drive shaft 19. The swingable connection between rod 25 and arm 26 is adjustable toward and away from the drive shaft 19 'so as to vary the arcuate oscillation of shaft 19 as the connection between rod 25 and arm 26 is moved generally radially toward and away from the shaft 19. In the form shown the adjustable connection is provided by a mounting ele ment 27 slidably connected to the arm 26 and secured thereto by means of a bolt 28; and swingably connected to the upper end of rod 25.

Means for supporting the upper or rear end of deck 12 includes means for varying the magnitude of vertical oscillation of the rear end of the deck as the' same is drivably oscillated in a substantially longitudinal direc-' tion by the driving mechanism. In the form shown such means comprise an adjustable deck support or mounting indicated in general by numeral 29. The mounting 29 includes a pair of similar inclined guides 30 disposed on opposite sides of the rear end of the deck and below the same. The guides 30 are suitably supported on the support structure and include a mounting plate 31. A slide member 32 is carried in each of the guides 30 and is slidable in an inclined direction therein. A slotted adjustment link 33 is swingably mounted on the mounting plate 31 by means of a pivot 34 and the arm 33 is afilxed to a second control arm 35 to which a crank 36 is threadably connected. Crank 36 is journalled in the support structure 11 so as to swing arms 35 and 33 when rotated. A pin is aflixed to the-slide 32 and extends through the slot in the arm 33 for moving the slide 32 when the arm 33 is swung in response to movement of crank 36. It should be understood that each of the slides 32 at the opposite sides of the machine is controlled by its respective crank 36. A shaft 38 is rotatably mounted in the slides 32 at opposite sides of the machine. swingable support plates 39 are afiixed to shaft 38 adjacent the opposite ends thereof and an upright but inclined support member or link 40 is swingably mounted on the plate 39 and is swingably connected to the deck frame 14. A crank 41 is rotatably mounted in a bearing 42 which is secured to the upper portion of guides 30 and crank 41 is threadably connected at 43 to the support plate 39. It will be seen that the crank 41 and plate 39 and the swingable connection to the slide 32 provides means for raising and lowering the rear end portion of deck 12 and thereby controls the pitch of the deck. It should also be seen that the crank 36, the slotted arm 33 and slide 32 provide means for controllably adjusting the inclination of link 40 and thereby controls the magnitude of vertical oscillation of the rear end portion of deck 12 as the same is drivably oscillated in a generally longitudinal direction by the driving links 17.

Means are provided for counterbalancing the movement of the forward end portion of the deck so as to provide smooth operation of the driving mechanism. In the form shown, a second Pitman oscillator 44 is connected to a swingable arm 45 which is mounted on a shaft 46 Patented Mar. 15, 1960 terial.

onto the deck and arranging'such materials, as they fall toward the deck, in a freefalling'curtain of granular ma provided at the upper portion of the gravity separator al a-sees 6 its upper terminal edge substantially in theplane of. deck .12. A dam or retaining element 75 also extends across thechute 72 adjacent the element 74 and the dam 75 a a Means are provided for supplying granular material/ extends slightly upwardly above the level of the deck 12. Means are provided for controlling the flow of air upwardly through the oscillatable material-carrying deck 12.

; In the form shown, such-ineansinclude a housing or hood which is indicated ingeneral by numeral 76 and which In the form .showma material inlettube 48 is andis disposed in granular flow communication with the supply hopper ;or conduit "49. The supply hopper 49 extends substantially completely across the deck 12. A

material inlet flow control gate 50 underlies the open lower end of hopper 4S! and is provided with a substanf tially horizontal discharge lip -51 which extends across the deck and is disposed in upwardly spaced relation therefrom. The gate 50 is swingable upwardly and downwardly and is also shiftable in directions forwardly and rearwardly with respect to the deck 12m facilitate minute control of the supplying of all types of material which may be desired to be applied to the deck 12. The rear endtportion of the gate 50 is swingably suspended by means of a pair of links 52 each swingably secured to the gate 50 and also swingably secured to the supporting structure; Vertical swinging of gate 50 is controlled by means of a hmdle 53 which is swingably mounted on the inachiire sup ort structure and which'is connected to a pair of controlcams 54 at the opposite sides of the machine. Apair of generally upright rods 55 at the opposite sides of the discharge gate Sil -and secured thereto are connected'to'the cams 54 for vertically shifting theforward end portion of gate 50 toward and away from the lower terminal end of hopper 4 9. fMeans are also providedformoving the gatesuin horizontal directions about'the: swing axes of the suspending links 52:. In the romp shown, such means include a control handle 56 which is 5 secured to a shaft 57 which shaftextends across the ma ch'ine and is journalledin the supportfstructure thereof.

control rods 59whi'ch are also swingably connected with t which is swingably connected to suspending. links 61' for vertical adjustment; Links 61 are swingably connected'to substantially surrounds the oscillating deck 12. A housing 76 has an air outlet 77 at the upper end portion therea of which is in airflow communication with a conduit 78 which may be suitably connected 'to' a source of vacuum air pressure=(not shown). 'Air filtering means such as the filters 79 are provided in underlying relation with respect to the area defined by housing '76. The air filters 79 are slidably carried in channels 80 so as to be readily V and easily removable for cleaning and replacing. Filters 79' may be suitably secured in operating position by means of retaining elements 81. The several discharge conduits" 67, 68 and 70jareall provided with airflow restricting elements 82 at the discharge ends thereof for restricting v upward flow of air therethrough. An airflow retaining wall 83'is provided in underlying relation to the deck supporting'structure '29 and the flexible curtain 84 extends upwardly: from the wall '83 to the rear end portion ordeal: 12. Such airflow control means also includes a plurality of adjustable vanes 85 disposed inunderlying relation withrespect to deck 12am extending between the liousing' side walls. The adjustable vanes 85 are disposed inlside-by side relation and are journalled' on longi= tudinallye xt'ending axes and are controlled by means of external handles 86 which control the pitch of the indivirtual vanes 85.

mine 87 isinclined withthe forwardedge portion'thereof disposed well below the rear'edge portion thereof. it should be noted that the rearedg'e portion of'bafiie 87 is disposed in proximity to the meme: 17. A swingable control vane 88'is secured to the upperportion of housing 76 adjacent the air outlet 771 and'inproximity V with the upper edge portion of airflow control. bafiie 87; Vane 88 is controlled by'a handle 89 which is connected adjusted togfcontrol the flow of air around the upper tfciritipl arm 62 which are hired on a shaft63, and a con ti-o1 andles; is connectedto sliaft 63 for controlling the rotation thereof and for controlling the vertical positioning oflinks 61 and skimmer plate 60. The skimmer plate is provided with a bifurcated" lower end portion which is supported on the dividing wall166- of a pair of tandernly arranged material discharge conduits 67 and 68. A spring'69 is secured'between the skimmer plate 61 r and the outer wall of conduit 68 to maintain the skimmer plate in secure mounting on the dividing wall 6.6; The

edge portion of-bathe 87.

Means are also provided for controlling'the volume of air flow through the housing 76 and upwardly through the deck 12; and; in the form shown, such'means include a shiftable gate 92 which is slidableintoobstructing relation with respect tothe air outlet 77. Gate 92 is controlled by a rack and pinion 93 and 94 respectively and skimmer plate 60 will s wing vertically about the. bifu r .7

'cat'od lower end portion thereof. 7

Means are provided for efiiciently discharging theheav'y of high density materials such as stones and the like from deck 12. In the shown, a discharge conduit or tube vors providedon' the support structure of the machine 1 adjacent the upper'or rearend portion of the deck 12'.

an upstandingretaining wall 71 is mounted on the deck 12 at' the upper rear end portion thereof and the wall 71 V V "disposed a-sli'ghtlyobtuse angle with respect to each or theupstanding side walls 16." A downwardly'inclined chute 72 is securedon the rear end portion or the deck 1 and a chute inlet '73 is provided through. the retaining wan 71 adjacent the central portion thereof. Means are .by a handle 95 secured to the gear 94.t

in operation the source'of vacuum pressure isapplied to the: conduit 78110 cause an upward movement air through th'e filters and upwardlythrough the perforated the materials-supplied" onto thedeck' will be afiect'ed by ath the; pwa r'dlyzmoving aims- 1 thinning of the neck. a The inflsw of granul'ar materialfsvill' e minutely eo rolled byzadj suag the pes ugn er-gateso. n has, been some that with certain vantag'eou's to shift p egmr a e we 1t ever"; The granular-mat rial win ran'iiewnwa ia y from the lip 51' toward the deck in a freerfalling; curtain-of a material qsf. Th'e lip 51 may e lowered to cause a 'suostantially continuous new of granular material thew SWEEP.- I

taiieous separation of the extremely light materials from the heavier materials in the granular material mixture. The lightest of the materials supplied from the inlet will never even touch the oscillating deck. The heavier granular materials such as grain, will fall into engagement with the screen and the oscillation of the deck 12 and the upsweeping air will have the tendency to cause these materials to flow smoothly toward the forward lower discharge end ofthe deck. The skimmer 60 will be adjusted so as to cause only the desirable materials to fall into the conduit 67 and will cause the lighter suspended materials to flow over the skimmer plate 60 and into the conduit 68. Extremely high density materials such as stones and the like will fall onto the screen 15 and will progressively move'upwardly therealong toward the upper stone discharge end portion of the deck. The slight angle of the retaining wall 71 tends to help the stones travel inwardly toward the central upper portion of the deck to be discharged through the chute 72. The retaining element'75 in the inlet portion of chute 72 causes the heavy stones on the upper end portion of the deck to build into a layer. The layer of stones will contain substantially no valuable granular material which normally would be discharged at the lower end of the deck and the upwardly sweeping air through the layer of stones at the upper end portion of the deck passes through the free-falling curtain of granular material from the inlet gate 50 and helps cause the instantaneous separation of material in their free-falling condition. The stones against the retaining element 75 will gradually jump over and fall downwardly into the chute 72 to be carried thereby to the stone discharge conduit '70, whereupon they will be carried outside the machine. By adjusting the vanes 85 below the deck 12, the air flow through the upper rear end portion of the deck may be controlled in relation to the air at the forward end portion of the deck so as to provide the proper amount of air flowing through the free-falling curtain of incoming granular material from the inlet gate 50. As the air flows upwardly through the perforated deck 12, certain portions of the air will flow around the lower forward end edge portion of the bafiie 87 and other portions of the air will flow upwardly around the upper rear edge portion of the bafile 87. Vane 88 may be adjusted in relation to the upper edge portion of baille 87 to control the direction of air flow and the relative proportion of air flow around the upper and lower edge portions of the baffle. With certain types of material being separated and having certain consistencies, a greater flow of air around the forward lower edge portions of the bafiie is desired and with certain other materials, an upward flow around the upper rear edge portion of the bafile 87 will be desired.

' It will be noted that if desired, the shaking oscillation of the forward end portion of the deck may be controlled by varying the adjustable connection between the connecting rod 25 and the control arm 26. By adjusting the connection inwardly toward shaft 19, the shaking of the forward end portion of deck 12 will be less vigorous and of course as the adjustable connection is shifted outwardly from shaft 19, the shaking of the forward end portion of deck 12 will be more vigorous.

It will be noted that the position and shaking of the upper rear end portion of the deck may be easily controlled by operating the cranks 36 and 41. The height of the rear end portion of decklZ, or the pitch of the deck may be controlled by operating crank 41 causing the plate 39 to swing about shaft 38 and causing upward movement of links 40 and the rear end portion of deck 12. The magnitude of vertical oscillatory movement of the rear end portion of the deck 12 may be controlled by adjusting the crank 36. Turning of crank 36 causes slide 32 to move in the guides 30 and causes movement of the shaft 38 and of the relative position of the lower end portion of link 40 as compared to the upper end portion thereof. The inclination of link til-will thereby change and as a result the magnitude of vertical moved ment of the rear end portion of the deck will change even though the longitudinal movement of the deck remains constant. It will be seen that by. adjusting the various support and driving mechanisms related to the deck 12, substantially any movement thereof that is desired may be obtained. Of course such wide variation wherein the upwardly moving air may be minutely controlled to facilitate utilization of the separator. with an extremely wide variety of materials, so as to separate the extremely light materials such as char from the heavier granular material such as grain.

It will be apparent also that I have provided a new and improved vacuum-type gravity separator having readily adjustable means for controlling the upward movement of air through the material-carrying oscillating deck so as to provide concentrations of large quantities of air through the deck and thereby produce the desired separation of materials thereon.

It will also be obvious that I have provided novel apparatus for adjustably positioning and controlling the magnitude of oscillatory movement of various portions of the deck so that granular material of various consistencies may be properly separated and moved acnoss the deck.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, detail, arrangement and proportions of the parts without departing from the scope of my invention which consists of the matter described herein and set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a vacuum-type gravity separator, a supporting structure, a perforate and generally horizontal but inclined material-receiving deck having a lower forward end portion upon which seeds and light material travel in a forward direction and also having an upper rear end portion upon which stones travel in a rearward direction, means mounting said deck on the supporting structure for oscillatory movement, a housing on the supporting structure and enclosing the area above the deck, said housing having an air discharge spaced above the deck and forwardly of the rearend of the deck and being connectible with a source of vacuum pressure whereby to draw air upwardly through the deck and housing and generally forwardly over the rear end portion of the deck, driving mechanism on the supporting structure for oscillating said deck whereby to cause the seeds and lightweight material to travel along the deck toward the forward end portion thereof and to cause high density material such as stones to travel along the deck toward the rear end portion thereof, a stone-discharge chute having an inlet at the rear end of said deck for receiving stones therefrom, means maintaining a depth of material on the deck and including stone-retaining means at the inlet of said chute and including a retaining element across the chute inlet and extending upwardly from the plane of the.

deck whereby to restrain movement of stones into the chute and build a layer of stones on the deck adjacent the chute, means preventing upward air flow around the rear end of thedeck, a granular material inlet spaced above the deck and disposed between and in substantial alignment with the rear end of the deck and the air discharge of the housing, said granular material inlet having material-guiding means extending across substantially the entire width of the deck for distributing material across the width of the deck, said material-guiding means including a substantially horizontally oriented edge facing the forward end portion of the deck and being spaced above the deck a distance substantially greater than the depth of the material on the deck, said material-guiding means being arranged for discharging material forwardly over 7 V said .edge in a forwardly inclined free-falling curtain through'whiclra portion of the air'passes as said portion ofthe air travels upwardly and forwardly from the rear portion of the deck to the air discharge, whereby the air causes imi'ne'di at'e separation of the materials as the same fa-ll fromtheedgeto thedeck. a

'2. I'n a vacuum-type gravity separator, a support struc ture, a perforate material-carrying deck having'a forward light material discharging end and a rear heavy-material discharging endi 'means mounting the deck on the sup-f portstructilr'e-for'oscillatory movement, means including sidewalls on the deck for maintaining the materialon the deck atifla predetermineddepth, a housing on the support stn lcture enclosingthe area above the deck, saidhousing" defining an-air'discharge connectible with the sourceof vacuum air pressure whereby to draw air upwardly' through the housing and through the deck,"a'

granular material inlet spaced above the deck and rearwardly of the air discharge, said inlet extending across substantially the entire width of the deck andhaving a forwardly facing horizontal edge over which the material flows, said inlet being arranged to supply such granular material over the edge and toward the forward lightmaterial discharging end of the deck and onto the deck in a forwardly inclined free-falling curtain, said edge being spaced above the deck a distance substantially greater than the depth of the material on the deck, oscillating drive mechanism on the support structure and con nected with the deck for oscillating the same and causing material thereon to travel therealong, air flow control 8 5'. In a vacuum-type gravity separator, 21 support ture, an inclined, perforate material-carrying de'ckhavi'n'g an upper heavy material-discharging rear end portion and a lower light material-discharging forward end means mounting thed'eck on the support structure for;

oscillatory movement," means maintaininga depth of mdter'ial on the deck, a housing on the supportstructurean'd enclosing the area above the deck, said housing having an air discharge above the deck and intermediate the forward and rear end portions thereof, said air discharges being connectible with the source of vacuum pressure whereby-to draw airupwardly through the deck and the housing, a granular material inlet spaced above the decl'e and intermediate the end portions thereof, said" inlet being disposed between and in substantial-alignment with the rear end portion of the deck and said air discharge saida inlet extending across substantially the entire width of the deck and havinga forwardly facinghorizontal. edge oven which the material flows, said edge being disposed above the deck a distance substantially greater than the depth: of the material on the deck, andtsaid inlet being arranged to supply such granular material forwardly over the edgc' and forwardly onto the deck'in a free-falling curtain,

driving mechanism on the support structure and cone nected with said deck for oscillating the same: to cause the granular material to travel therealong, and a bame extending across the deck and intermediate the forward and rear end portions of the deck, said baffle having a lower edge spaced above the deckto define an air flowmeans directing air upwardly and; forwardly through the curtain of free-falling material and including a vane vertically spaced from thematerial inlet and controlling] the now of air through the curtain of free-falling material,-

wherebythe upward fiowing'a-ir through thecurtain of free-falling granular materialwill carry off dust and the like and will allow stones and the like to drop directly to the deck forimrnediate movement toward the heavy material-discharging end and will carry the falling light material forwardly to initiate stratification thereof;

1 3; The invention asset forth in claim 2 wherein said vane is adjustable and is disposed below the deck'and in direction controlling relation with the airmoving up: wardly toward the deck whereby to controllably, vary the volume of air moving-upwardly through certain portions of the deck and through the curtain of free-falling material for regulating initial separation of material; as

the same falls toward the deck. I v 1 4. Theinvention as set forth in claim; wherein said vane is adjustable and is disposed between said material inlet and the air'discharge and swingably secured-to the;

hood and adjacent the air discharge and in dependingre1a tion therefrom whereby the vane maybe adjustedto control the direction of air flow through the free-falling cu'rtain of granular material and thereby regulate the initial separation of the materials as the same fall toward the deck. I t

downwardly and forwardly from thereof. t 7

opening therebetween, and said baffle having an: upper portion-spaced from the housing and defining. an air passage the'rebetween, said air passage being disposed between and in substantial alignment with the inlet and the air discharge, and anadjustable vane carried by the support. structure and ,disposedtin said air passage whereby to control direction of airflow through the free-falling,

curtain of granular material for initial separation of the supply of granular'materials as the same fall to the deck.

6. Theinvention set forth in claim 5 wherein said baffie is oriented in an inclined position, the baffle sloping. said upper portion References-Cited in, the file oi this, patent Great Britain June 4,1951 7 i V 

